Being self-employed is funny business. Sometimes I joke that it’s very much like being unemployed.
But that’s just a joke. In reality, it’s a lot of hard work. But it’s similar in the sense that you don’t have a boss breathing down your neck. You don’t have quarterly performance reviews. (Though Vitaliy will likely tell you that I give him a performance review every day.) You don’t have to be to work at a set time. And you don’t have a steady paycheck each week. And let me just say, not having these things, though sometimes nice, can be difficult. I could often use a boss breathing down my neck and a set time to start my day.
So, how do we assess ourselves as a business? That is a good question! One that we’re still considering ourselves. Especially when we view success as having to do with much more than a P&L report. It is quite easy to fall into thinking that we’re not doing enough or that we haven’t grown enough. One small and simple way that we combat this thinking is to always celebrate every small accomplishment with a big high five.
When we read our clients’ reviews or see that our work has been published and vouched for by industry peers, we have to count that as more valuable (and much more exciting!) than any quarterly performance review. We were thankful to see Michael and Kate’s wedding featured on Style Me Pretty last month, but we were even more thankful to read Kate’s review on Yelp. To know that we served her well, produced a quality product, and gave her an unforgettable experience is how we can be sure that we’re doing our jobs well.
You can see Michael and Kate’s wedding on Style Me Pretty here. And to make this self-employed girl’s day – can I get a virtual high five?
